CAN YOU GUESS what the top 11 new stories of 2011 were on A Way to Garden? As was the case last year, not even one featured the increasingly cushy life of Jack the Demon Cat, now operating under the assumed name Jack the Mama’s Boy–and just completing his first full year of nonstop sleepovers and on-demand feeding courtesy of his personal valet. Speaking of eating, a lot of this year’s top posts involved garden-fresh ingredients. Here’s what else: [read more…]
jack the demon cat
A stray, Jack the Demon Cat was waiting for me the morning I raced into the driveway from downtown NYC on 9/11. He has never left since.
what you fancied: 2011′s top 11 stories
December 27, 2011 at 10:52 am
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9/11: the day jack showed up for me
September 10, 2011 at 9:13 pm
I WAS GOING TO SKIP ANY MENTION of 9/11, not because it’s not on my mind, but because it’s tricky: Today marks the 10th anniversary of one of the primary catalysts for my eventual exit from city living, for my withdrawal from the mainstream, and also the day that Jack the Demon Cat quite unexpectedly came to live with me. To tell the story, I’ve posted an excerpt from my book “And I Shall Have Some Peace There.”
snow-day slideshow: wild cat, elusive buddha
December 27, 2010 at 5:07 pm
IT’S A DAY OF MUFFLED SOUNDS AND LOTS OF SHOVELING. A day tucked in feeling thankful the wind hasn’t taken out the power (even though it keeps devilishly re-covering walkways as fast as I clean them, invoking its formidable power of drift). It’s a day indoors with Jack the Demon Cat, and it began at 4:30 AM. [read more…]
link bounty: migration madness, vole traps, more
September 24, 2010 at 10:48 am
ASEASON WITHOUT RAIN MEANS NO GOOD TIME for dividing and transplanting in the garden, so while I wait and hope, I click, and click some more. From dramatic bird-migration news and a trap that outsmarts voles, to the latest findings about Roundup and its harmful effects, here are some internet links I’ve dug up lately indoors that you might enjoy. [read more…]
book giveaway: alicia paulson’s magic garden
August 30, 2010 at 12:01 am
I CAN BARELY SEW ON A BUTTON, but that doesn’t stop me from feeling a kinship with Alicia Paulson, whose needle and thread seem as natural an extension of her hands—and more to the point, her spirit—as a pruner or long-handed shovel are to mine. With them, she cultivates a charmed botanical world I love getting lost in (lately, she’s making a real garden in her Oregon back yard, too). Meet a treasured pen pal of mine—and maybe win one of two copies of her delicious new book, “Embroidery Companion,” that I bought to share with you: [read more…]
a week of firsts: snakes, magnolias, frenzy
April 11, 2010 at 5:58 pm
FIRST THINGS FIRST, OR SO THE SAYING GOES. And so a normal spring goes, too–if there is ever such a thing again. Two prolonged bouts of early heat have changed the pace, to say the least, and so I’m doing lawn repairs (right on time) and also mowing (three weeks early!); pruning already leafed-out shrubs (so much easier when they’re still asleep!), and otherwise improvising. We’ve got wide-awake snakes and a wild hodgepodge of overlapping blooms–but the same recalcitrant Demon Cat. (Some things never change.) The latest evidence, in an impromptu slideshow: [read more…]
doodle by andre: border patrol
January 20, 2010 at 8:30 pm
YES, MY HAIR IS A BIT STATIC-PRONE AT THE MOMENT, dear Andre Jordan, thank you very much; I asked you to please not make fun of it. More important, though: There is, and forever has been, only one Jack the Demon Cat, and my Jack (who has a drug problem) wants no part of morning walks with Mommy; he sleeps by day and hunts by night. Are these doodles of yours meant to be cartoons or something?
the 2009 garden in pictures: a slideshow
January 1, 2010 at 12:07 am
JACK AND I WISH YOU EVERY GOOD THING in 2010 (however you wish to pronounce it, twenty-ten or two-thousand ten, or even two-oh-one-oh). As our parting shot, a look at some of the zillions of photos we enjoyed taking in 2009. Happy New Year! (Photo of us thanks to Erica Berger, and no, I am not torturing Jack. Promise.) [read more…]
a note of thanks, news, and my winter plans
November 8, 2009 at 9:33 am
THIS WEEK’S EMAIL NEWSLETTER (WHAT? NOT ON MY LIST?) WAS MORE letter than news (though I suppose there is some news; more on that in a moment). With crusty, 20-something-degree serious frosts upon us and the garden almost put to bed, it seemed like a good time to say thank you all for your visits, comments, and endless pieces of great gardening and life advice along the way so far in 2009. It also seemed like the right time to ask how we should spend the winter–together, I hope. [read more…]
